CANADALAND is gearing up for a big year. Time to check in with those who listen to it and who pay for it: what should I be covering? How should I handle ads? Who should host the upcoming politics show? More questions, some answers, and an apology.

Cartoonist Kate Beaton is an exemplary weirdo. Her webcomic about Canadian historical figures and literary ephemera has gained a global following of one million monthly readers. She has published an acclaimed book and her work appeared in The New Yorker, but she still is largely a self-published online creator. Jesse tries to learn her secrets.

45 First Nations people allege experiencing or witnessing abuse by former missionary school teacher John Furlong, who was President of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Journalist Laura Robinson broke the story.

Steven Kerzner may be the most famous TV performer you've never heard of. His hand has insulted some of the biggest pop stars in the world. Crouched just out of frame, he had a worm's eye view of the heyday of CityTV and Muchmusic, and he tells Jesse all.

The Irvings are secretive billionaires who have a monopoly on New Brunswick's news media. Journalist Jacques Poitras, authour of Irving vs Irving, describes how the family subtly suppresses criticism and destroys competitors.

John Semley, contributor to the Globe and Mail and Toronto Star talks with Jesse about the media pageantry around Remembrance Day, reporting on viral videos, Ezra Levant's supposed boner and Don Cherry's shrinking box.

Emma Rose Teitel of Macleans Magazine talks about the myth of superior Canadian breaking news coverage and the different rules the media has for crazy men and crazy women. Also, a folk song for cranky columnist Barbara Kay.

Norman Spector is Canada's former ambassador to Israel. He was also the publisher of the Jerusalem Post. Conversations about Israel-Palestine are invariably bummers, but for Norman, Jesse makes an exception.

Cartoonist Kate Beaton is an exemplary weirdo. Her webcomic about Canadian historical figures and literary ephemera has gained a global following of one million monthly readers. She has published an acclaimed book and her work appeared in The New Yorker, but she still is largely a self-published online creator. Jesse tries to learn her secrets.

Carl Wilson changed the way music is discussed. His "poptimist" manifesto, Let's Talk About Love, made it okay to talk seriously about bubbly pop, and went pop itself- that rare work of criticism that becomes a bestseller. He rose to a top job in his field, senior critic at SPIN. But he almost instantly lost that job. He explains why, and talks about the rapid decline of music criticism itself.

Canada is an old man's country. Baby Boomers are the wealthiest generation ever while young Canadians are increasingly poor and in debt. Yet the federal government spends four times as much on the average senior citizen each year as it does on the average 24-year-old. Eric Swanson of Generation Squeeze is fighting an uphill battle to even the scales.

The CBC, Ontario, Quebec, and a number of unions say that Netflix should be taxed in order to pay for more CanCon. The Harper government says there will be no Neflix tax as long as they remain in power.

They're all full of it. A Netflix tax is impossible. Journalist Steve Faguy explains why.

The Score is a digital-first, globally popular Canadian media company that's growing each year. So why did its well-loved feature writing team just get the axe? Former features editor Dustin Parkes explains.

MuchMusic and dozens of other specialty channels collect millions of dollars a year from subscribers who didn't ask for them and don't watch them. Meanwhile, channels are laying off their staffs and producing less meaningful content than ever. Is it time to cut the cord on the protected cable business?

Veteran journalist John Barber has written a fire-breathing, bridge-burning polemic on the state of Canada's newspapers, including The Globe and Mail, where he spent most of his career. He explains why he had to say it.

The veteran CBC broadcaster as you've never heard him before. A candid, combative, and lubricated conversation about the state of journalism, the CBC, Canada in general, and Jesse's life choices in particular.

Weeks after 9/11, reporter Jan Wong smuggled a box cutter onto an Air Canada Flight to see if she could. Jan Wong had a celebrity gossip column but she interviewed a homeless woman instead. Jan Wong called Quebec out for racism years before the Values Charter. Jan Wong was punk rock. Then her editors threw her under the bus. She's still not okay with that.

In 2011, Canadian government agencies asked Internet providers and cell phone companies for private subscriber data 1.2 million times. Warrants were rarely provided and the telecom companies had the right to refuse. They handed over your information anyway, and charged for it.

The CRTC is unbundling cable channels, but in 5 years will anyone subscribe to cable TV anyhow? If we don't, who will fund Canadian TV and film? Insights from George Burger, a veteran of the Canadian TV and film industry who is now an executive at VMedia, an Internet TV service.

The CBC is being systematically disassembled, but its employees can't or won't speak up for it and make the case for public broadcasting. Anshuman Iddamsetty is a former CBC producer. These days he hosts Hazlitt Magazine's podcast, The Arcade. He joins Jesse to discuss the things that they won't.

The Walrus and Toronto Life were investigated by the Labour Ministry and forced to send their unpaid interns home. A wider crackdown on magazine internships and unpaid internships in general is on the way.

Derek Finkle is the former editor of Toro Magazine. Before that, he was Toronto Life's first unpaid intern. Here's his story, and his thoughts on what's happening now.

Top writers and editors have fled, Editor-in-Chief John Stackhouse was shockingly ousted. No-one at the paper is willing to talk about it on the record. Former Globe editor, journalism professor Ann Rauhala provides some insight.

CSEC is shadier than the NSA. Nobody really knows what they are doing, including the Ministers who empower them and the judges who grant them warrants. They spy on Canadians and lie to the press and to the Courts. Globe and Mail reporter Colin Freeze talks about the frustrations of covering a secret institution.

Pierre Karl Peladeau is an old-fashioned Media Baron, fully controlling much of the music, publishing, and news industries in Quebec. As journalist Martin Patriquin tells it, he is also a vindictive and powerful enemy of those who cross him or ask the wrong questions. Now, he is also a politician, with a sovereign Quebec as his goal.

The Black Hoof made Toronto a hip restaurant town, and its imitators pop-up every week, all across Canada. Owner Jen Agg shares good wine and strong opinions about food culture, food trends and food media.

More layoffs at the Globe and Mail and the National Post were announced last week. Editor Jeremy Barker was one of the Posties who lost his job. A few days later, he joined Jesse to talk about what the future may hold for him and for print media.

Several Canadian alternative newsweeklies are gone and the rest are struggling. Rupert Bottenberg spent 13 years as the music editor of the Montreal Mirror, which ended its 27 year run in 2012. He remembers his tenure and reflects on what alt-weeklies meant and where they went wrong.

There are almost 300,000 international students in Canada. Avanish Agarwal is one of them. He says the experience is not as advertised, and that many like him are being exploited by Canada's schools and companies.